Mobile browser context switching

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for processing and displaying content are disclosed. An example method of operation may include initializing two or more windows on a mobile device, and displaying a first window of the two or more windows on the mobile device. The method may also include receiving an on-screen switcher indication causing a display view change from the first window being displayed to a combination of the first window and at least one more additional windows being displayed. The method may also include determining a space amount for each of the two or more windows, adjusting a size of each of the two or more windows based on the space amount. The method may further include displaying a frame around each of the two or more windows with the respective adjusted size, and displaying each frame overlaid on top of one another. The example method provides multiple web pages to be concurrently active in a common viewing area of a mobile display device.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The field relates to operating systems, software applications and userinterface devices, and, more particularly, to a system, method,apparatus or non-transitory computer program product of scaling multiplebrowser contexts within the display area of a mobile device display.

2. Background

A web browser is commonly used with computational devices, such aslaptops, smartphones, tablet computing devices, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), etc. Web browsers continue to grow in popularity as atool used to access a particular web page, and perform related features.It is common for a user's homepage to include customized user settings,such as a default web page, and other sources of information. Forexample, customized web pages may include local weather, email, textmessaging, horoscopes, video plug-ins, backgrounds, etc.

Currently, web browsers use a tab metaphor to represent a browsercontext presently running within the browser. A web browser may havemultiple browser contexts running at any given time. Any of the browsercontexts may be selected tor display via their respective tabs. Each tabis associated with a corresponding uniform resource locator (URL) fieldthat includes a web address. Also, some additional tools or buttons maybe present allowing the user to navigate backward and forward betweenthe various browser contexts. Each tab can be selected at any timeproviding the user with the option to switch to a different browsercontext.

On mobile devices, the tab metaphor cannot be used to represent browsingcontexts because the screen real estate is not large enough. Within thedisplay area of a mobile device, tabs would occupy a large portion ofthe screen and would not scale very well horizontally as the number oftabs increases. Tabs would also be more difficult to select given theimprecision inherent to small screen touch-based user interfaces.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In an embodiment, a method may include initializing two or more windowson a mobile device, and displaying a first window of the two or morewindows on the mobile device. The method may also include receiving anon-screen switcher indication causing a display view change from thefirst window being displayed to a combination of the first window and atleast one more of the two or more additional windows being displayed,determining a space amount for each of the two or more windows,adjusting a size of each of the two or more windows based on the spaceamount, displaying a frame around each of the two or more windows withthe respective adjusted size, and displaying each frame overlaid on topof one another.

In another embodiment, a system may include a content adjustor,implemented with a computing device, configured to perform variousoperations. Those operations may include to initialize two or morewindows on a mobile device, provide a display a first window of the twoor more windows on the mobile device, receive an on-screen switcherindication causing a display view change from the first window beingdisplayed to a combination of the first window and at least one more ofthe two or more additional windows being displayed, determine a spaceamount for each of the two or more windows, and adjust a size of each ofthe two or more windows based on the space amount. The system may alsoinclude a display device configured to display a frame around each ofthe two or more windows with the respective adjusted size, and displayeach frame overlaid on top of one another.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer readable storage mediumis configured to store instructions that when executed causes aprocessor to perform certain operations. The operations may includeinitializing two or more windows on a mobile device, displaying a firstwindow of the two or more windows on the mobile device, receiving anon-screen switcher indication causing a display view change from thefirst window being displayed to a combination of the first window and atleast one more of the two or more additional windows being displayed,determining a space amount for each of the two or more windows, andadjusting a size of each of the two or more windows based on the spaceamount. The operations may also include displaying a frame around eachof the two or more windows with the respective adjusted size, anddisplaying each frame overlaid on top of one another.

Further embodiments, features, and advantages, as well as the structureand operation of the various embodiments are described in detail belowwith reference to accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Embodiments are described with reference to the accompanying drawings.In the drawings, like reference numbers may indicate identical orfunctionally similar elements. The drawing in which an element firstappears is generally indicated by the left-most digit in thecorresponding reference number.

FIG. 1A is an illustration of a hand held user computational devicedisplaying a set of browser contexts, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 1B is an illustration of a hand held user computational devicedisplaying an additional set of browser contexts, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 1C is an illustration of a hand held user computational devicedisplaying an additional set of browser contexts, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a display system, according to anembodiment.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a flow diagram of a method of operation,according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments described herein refer to illustrations for particularapplications. It should be understood that the invention is not limitedto the embodiments. Those skilled in the art with access to theteachings provided herein will recognize additional modifications,applications, and embodiments within the scope thereof and additionalfields in which the invention would be of significant utility.

In the detailed description of embodiments that follows, references to“one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc.,indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature,structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarilyinclude the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover,such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment.Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic isdescribed in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it iswithin the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature,structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodimentswhether or not explicitly described.

Example embodiments may provide a way to visualize and switch betweenseveral browser contexts currently displayed on a mobile device. Thebrowser contexts may be optimized for touch-based mobile devices thatare equipped with a small screen. Example embodiments provide a way forusers to have multiple browser contexts displayed on a mobile devicehaving a relatively small display screen. Each browser context isrepresented by a frame that encloses the browser context. The frame mayinclude a web page viewable to the user. Frames may overlap freely,allowing users to select which browser context they would like to viewor interact with at any given time.

FIG. 1A is an illustration of a hand held user computational devicedisplaying a set of browser contexts, according to an embodiment.Referring to FIG. 1A, a handheld mobile device 101, such as a cellularphone, mobile station, smartphone or other handheld computational deviceis shown. The handheld device 101 includes a display area 103, which theuser may view and control via a touch screen sensor configurationoverlaid on the display area 103. A user hand silhouette 105A isillustrated as controlling the viewable content of the display area 103.For example, the user may be viewing one browser context and may selecta switcher icon 135 to change the view from one browser context tomultiple browser contexts. In this example, by selecting the switchericon 135, the user's view switched from one browser context (not shown)to the current view of frames 109, 111, 113 and 115. Additional frames117, 119, 121, 123, and 125 are stacked at the bottom of the page. Eachof the plurality of frames may be open and running within the context ofan operating system of the mobile device 101.

In operation, the user may select a browser application and launch abrowser context. The initial browser context may be opened and viewableas a homepage linked to the browser. The user may navigate to aparticular web address and download a web page of interest. Uponselecting a web page, the user may desire to open additional browsercontexts to view additional web pages without closing or navigating awayfrom the previously accessed web page. As multiple browser contexts areopened, a queue or list of browser contexts may be displayed by a groupof frames 109, 111, 113, 115, 117, 119, 121, 123, and 125. Frame 109 mayinclude a first webpage “www.webpageA.com” of a first browser context,and additional webpages “www.webpageB.com”, “www.webpageC.com”,“www.webpageD.com”, “www.webpageE.com” “www.webpageF.com”“www.webpageG.com” “www.webpageH.com” and “www.webpageI.com” may bedisplayed in additional frames 111, 113, 115, 117, 119, 121, 123, and125, respectively.

The order of the frames 109, 111, 113, 115, 117, 119, 121, 123, and 125may be dictated by the order of accessing the webpages via the browserapplication. For example, the user may launch a browser application andaccess a first webpage, then minimize or move the current view of thatwebpage via its browser context in order to launch additional browsercontexts. Switching views may be performed by selecting the switchericon 135. This procedure may be performed multiple times to launchnumerous different browser contexts and corresponding frames containingweb pages. As the number of frames continues to increase, the displaymay only provide a maximum number of viewable frames at any given time.In the present view of FIG. 1A, only four frames 109, 111, 113, and 115are displayed at a time. The other frames, 117, 119, 121, 123 and 125are stacked at the bottom of the display area 103. The number of framesviewable per display may vary. However, the display screen real estateis limited to only a finite number of frames.

FIG. 1B is an illustration of a hand held user computational devicedisplaying another set of browser contexts, according to an exampleembodiment. Referring to FIG. 1B, the user may perform a scrollingoperation by scrolling upward from the bottom of the screen, asindicated by the arrow 129, additional frames not previously illustratedmay effectively scroll into the viewing area of the display area 103 dueto the user's scrolling movement. For example, frames 117, 119, and 121are additional frames containing different browser contexts that may nothave been visible prior to the user's hand movement scrolling upward asindicated by the user's hand position 105B. The user hand movement 105Bscrolling upward caused the additional frames 117, 119, and 121 to bevisible, while stacking frames 109, 11, and 113 at the top of thescreen. Frame 115 from FIG. 1A is still visible at the bottom of thedisplay area 103. Frames 123 and 125 remain stacked at the bottom.Additional user hand movements may cause browser contexts to be removedor added. For example, a downward scrolling, or by touching a particularbrowser context and moving to the right, as indicated by arrow 127, maycause the manipulated browser context to be permanently removed from thelist of available browser contexts included in the display area 103. Theuser can continue to scroll upward with the movement 105B as shown inFIG. 1C and frame 115 is then stacked at the top with frames 109, 11,and 113. Frame 123 is now visible in display area 103, and frame 125remains stacked at the bottom of the display area.

As indicated above, browser contexts may include a web page. Referringagain to FIG. 1B, a toolbar at the top of the display screen 103 mayinclude a switcher icon 135. The switcher icon 135 may operate to turnon the page switcher mode. When the switcher icon 135 is selected, thecurrent page size may be slightly reduced as if the visible area zoomedout by approximately 10-15%. This modification to the area reveals aframe for each web page. Each frame features the corresponding web pagetitle, a favicon illustration indicative of the logo or certain contentof the web page (not shown) and an option to close the frame and itscorresponding contents. A favicon can also be referred to as a shortcuticon, a website icon ,a URL icon, or a bookmark icon. The favicon is afile containing one or more small icon associated with a particularwebpage or website.

Other frames and their corresponding web pages are overlapped over orunder the current web page frame. The present view of the display 103may include from 1 to N web pages, the layout divides the availablevertical space evenly between web pages. Beyond N pages, the layoutdecreases the visible area for each web page progressively, startingfrom the current page. Such a display configuration may be derived froma display algorithm. For example, the spacing available for each webpage is determined by the formula:(HeightOfTotalArea−padding)/(NumberOfPages*ScaleAmount). The“HeightOfTotalArea” is the total area available for viewing in thedisplay area 103, the “padding” is the distance between each frame, the“Number0fPages” is the total number of browser contexts open and the“ScaleAmount” is a scaling variable that is inversely proportional tothe total number of browser contexts open. For example, the larger thenumber of browser contexts open, the smaller the scale amount will be toaccommodate each of the browser contexts as a percentage of the totaldisplay area height.

The spacing may also be capped to a minimum amount (e.g., 230 pixels) toensure that there is always enough of the page visible for otherpurposes. On the top and bottom of the screen, the user can view a stackof pages. Touching the stack automatically expands the stack from thetop or bottom. For example, if a user touched the stack in FIG. 1A atthe bottom where frames 117, 119, 121, 123, and 125 are stacked, theframes expand from the bottom upward with frames 119, 121, 123, and 125visible and frames 109, 111, 113, 115, and 117 stacked at the top of thedisplay area. Touching the stack at the bottom would expand the framesupward until no more frames were left at the bottom of the display area.The same is true if the use movement was touching the stack at the topof the screen. Then the frames expand from the top downward. For exampleif the user touched the stack in FIG. 1C at the top where frames 109,113, 113, and 115 are stacked, then the stack opens downward and frames109, 113, 113, and 115 are displayed with frames 117, 119, 121, 123, and125 stacked at the bottom. Touching the stack at the top would expandthe frames downward until no more frames were left at the top of thedisplay area.

An example formula used for stacking browser context frames at the topof the screen is discussed below. Frames may move freely and linearly upto a certain degree. Thereafter, the frames begin to decelerate using adampening curve, such as ((y/2)+0.5)̂2 which is multiplied to its linearvertical position. This is bounded at the top by a constant value. Userscan control the frame overlapping feature to navigate to the frame thatcontains their desired browser context. For example, each frame can bemoved by sliding the frame by touching the screen. In the switcher 125,pressing the switcher button selects the page that was previouslyvisible. This allows users to easily and naturally identify web pagesincluded in browser context frames, since they are only slightly smaller10% to 15% than normal and are still readable.

While overlapping frames may obscure some web page contents, web sitesare generally designed to have some strong brand identity at the top ofthe page. This allows an optimized view to be displayed at the top ofeach web page at almost full size. As noted above, the constant “N” maybe currently set to a value, such as 2, 3 or 4 on mobile phones.Examples discussed above are described in portrait mode butmodifications may also be adapted to display content in landscape modewith frames ordered horizontally.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a content display system 210 configured toperform content display operations, according to an embodiment. System210, or any combination of its components, may be part of or may beimplemented with a computing device. Examples of computing devicesinclude, but are not limited to, a computer, workstation, distributedcomputing system, computer cluster, embedded system, stand- aloneelectronic device, networked device, mobile device (e.g. mobile phone,smart phone, navigation device, tablet or mobile computing device), rackserver, set-top box, or other type of computer system having at leastone processor and memory. Such a computing device may include software,firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof: Software may include oneor more applications and an operating system. Hardware can include, butis not limited to, a processor, memory and user interface display.

System 210 may include an input receiver 212 and a content adjustor 214.

The system 210 is in communication with a display device 220, which maybe used to display any of the example display configurations discussedin detail above. The input receiver 212 may receive a command to performa display operation. The content adjustor 214 may use the command toinitiate a content display of one or more frames. The frame data may betransmitted to the display device 220 to be viewed by the user. Contentadjustor 214 may be used to implement the embodiments described abovewith FIGS. 1A-1B. Examples of the embodiments for exemplary system 210or subsystem components, such as input receiver 212 and content adjustor214, and methods or any parts or function(s) thereof may be implementedusing hardware, software modules, firmware, tangible computer readableor computer usable storage media having instructions stored thereon, ora combination thereof and may be implemented in one or more computersystems or other processing systems.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a flow diagram of an example method ofoperation, according to an embodiment. Referring to FIG. 3, the methodmay include initializing two or more windows on a mobile device, at step301, and displaying a first window of the two or more windows on themobile device, at step 302. The method may also include receiving anon-screen switcher indication causing a display view change from thefirst window being displayed to a combination of the first window and atleast one more of the two or more additional windows being displayed, atstep 303, and determining a space amount for each of the two or morewindows, at step 304. The method may also include adjusting a size ofeach of the two or more windows based on the space amount, at step 305,displaying a frame around each of the two or more windows with therespective adjusted size, at step 306, and displaying each frameoverlaid on top of one another, at step 307. According to an embodiment,steps 301-305 may be performed by system 210 with the assistance ofdisplay device 220.

Embodiments may be directed to computer products comprising softwarestored on any computer usable medium. Such software, when executed inone or more data processing device, causes a data processing device(s)to operate as described herein.

Embodiments may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or acombination thereof. Embodiments may be implemented via a set ofprograms running in parallel on multiple machines.

The summary and abstract sections may set forth one or more but not allexemplary embodiments of the present invention as contemplated by theinventor(s), and thus, are not intended to limit the present inventionand the appended claims in any way.

Embodiments have been described above with the aid of functionalbuilding blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functionsand relationships thereof The boundaries of these functional buildingblocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of thedescription. Alternate boundaries can be defined so long as thespecified functions and relationships thereof are appropriatelyperformed. The breadth and scope of the present invention should not belimited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fullyreveal the general nature of the invention that others can, by applyingknowledge within the skill of the art, readily modify and/or adapt forvarious applications such specific embodiments, without undueexperimentation, without departing from the general concept of thepresent invention. Therefore, such adaptations and modifications areintended to be within the meaning and range of equivalents of thedisclosed embodiments, based on the teaching and guidance presentedherein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminologyherein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, suchthat the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is tobe interpreted by the skilled artisan in light of the teachings andguidance.

1. A computer-implemented method for switching between applicationwindows, comprising: initializing two or more application windows on amobile device, wherein the two or more application windows comprise: afirst application window, and one or more remaining application windows;displaying a first application window of the two or more applicationwindows on the mobile device such that the one or more remainingapplication windows are hidden from display; receiving a switchingindication; and in response to receiving the switching indication:determining a space amount for each of the two or more applicationwindows, adjusting a size of each of the two or more application windowsbased on the space amount, and displaying a frames for each of the twoor more application window wherein each of the frames includes aviewable portion corresponding to the adjusted size of its respectivewindow and at least portions of the frames are overlaid on top of eachother.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a space amount foreach of the two or more application windows comprises: determining thespace amount for each application window according to the followingformula: (a height of total area−a padding)/(a number of pages*a scaleamount), wherein the height of total area is a height of the area on themobile device, padding is a predetermined amount of space between eachapplication window, the number of pages is the number of applicationwindows initialized, and the scale amount is a scaling factor variablethat is inversely proportional to the number of pages.
 3. (canceled) 4.The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a selectionassociated with a window of the two or more application windows;displaying the application window associated with the selection withouta frame; and removing from display each of the two or more applicationwindows not associated with the selection.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein each frame includes an associated title and an associatedfavicon.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the switchingindication comprises receiving an input from a switcher icon.
 7. Asystem, comprising: a display device configured to: display a firstapplication window of two or more application windows initialized on amobile device, wherein the two or more application windows comprise: thefirst application window, and one or more remaining application windows,wherein the one or more remaining application windows are hidden fromdisplay; an input receiver, implemented with a computing device,configured to receive a switching indication; and a content adjustor,implemented with a computing device, configured to: in response toreceiving the switching indication: determine a space amount for each ofthe two or more application windows, adjust a size of the two or moreapplication windows based on the space amount, provide to the displaydevice each of the two or more application windows including framesdisplayed for each of the application windows, wherein each of theframes includes a viewable portion corresponding to the adjusted size ofits respective application window and at least portions of the framesare overlaid on top of each other.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein thecontent adjustor is further configured to determine a space amount foreach of the two or more application windows according to the followingformula: (a height of total area−a padding)/(a number of pages*a scaleamount), wherein the height of total area is a height of the area on themobile device, the padding is a predetermined amount of space betweeneach application window, the number of pages is the number ofapplication windows initialized, and the scale amount is a scalingfactor variable that is inversely proportional to the number of pages.9. The system of claim 7, wherein each of the two or more applicationwindows is at least one of an application or a webpage.
 10. The systemof claim 7, wherein the input receiver is further configured to: receivea selection associated with an application window of the two or moreapplication windows, and wherein the display device is furtherconfigured to: display the application window associated with theselection without a frame, and remove from display each of the two ormore application windows not associated with the selection.
 11. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein each application window includes anassociated title and an associated favicon.
 12. The system of claim 7,wherein the display device is further configured to display a switchericon, and wherein the input receiver is further configured to receive aswitcher indication by receiving input from the switcher icon.
 13. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to storeinstructions that when executed causes a processor to perform:initializing two or more application windows on a mobile device, whereinthe two or more application windows comprise: a first application windowand one or more remaining application windows; displaying a first windowof the two or more application windows on the mobile device such thatthe one or more remaining application windows are hidden from display;receiving an switching indication; and in response to receiving theswitching indication: determining a space amount for each of the two ormore application windows, adjusting a size of each of the two or moreapplication windows based on the space amount, and displaying a framesfor each of the two or more application window, wherein each of theframes includes a viewable portion corresponding to the adjusted size ofits respective application window and at least portions of the framesare overlaid on top of each other.
 14. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: initializing one or more additional application windows onthe mobile device; stacking the one or more additional applicationwindows, wherein the stacking includes displaying frames for each of theone or more additional application windows, wherein the frames arestacked such that only a portion of the frames are viewable and theirrespective application windows are hidden.
 15. The method of claim 14,further comprising: receiving a touch indication associated with the oneor more additional application windows displayed on the mobile device;removing from display each of two or more application windows; anddisplaying each of the one or more additional application windows untilthe maximum number of application windows is reached by: determining aspace amount for each of the remaining number of application windows,adjusting a size of each of the remaining application windows based onthe space amount, and displaying frames for each of the one or moreadditional application windows wherein each of the frames includes aviewable portion corresponding to the adjusted size of its respectiveapplication window and at least portions of the frames are overlaid ontop of each other.
 16. The system of claim 7, wherein the contentadjuster is further configured to provide to the display device one ormore additional application windows in stacked form initialized on themobile device, wherein the stacked form includes displaying frames foreach of the one or more additional application windows, wherein theframes are stacked such that only a portion of the frames are viewableand their respective application windows are hidden.
 17. The system ofclaim 16, wherein the input receiver is further configured to receive atouch indication associated with the remaining number of the two or moreapplication windows displayed on the mobile device, and wherein thedisplay device is further configured to: remove from display each of twoor more application windows; and display each of the one or moreadditional application windows until the maximum number of applicationwindows is reached by: determining a space amount for each of theremaining number of application windows, adjusting a size of each of theremaining application windows based on the space amount, and displayingframes for each of the one or more additional application windowswherein each of the frames includes a viewable portion corresponding tothe adjusted size of its respective application window and at leastportions of the frames are overlaid on top of each other.